A winter chill hit Calgary’s resale housing market in February, as sales and prices were both down from a year ago.
Mike Fotiou, associate broker with First Place Realty, said February MLS sales were the slowest for the month since 2009. Sales were 25 per cent off the five-year average and 33 per cent off the 10-year average.
February marked the first month since March 2011 in which average and median MLS sale prices were both down year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the inventory of homes for sale is more than double 2014’s numbers, and the highest level since 2009.
“This is playing out exactly like a textbook would describe a market in theory,” said Don Campbell, senior analyst with the Real Estate Investment Network. “The high listings, lack of buyers in January, reflecting in lower transactions and continued increase in listings in February. As oil confusion continues, so will this trend.
“Builders beginning to slow down, will decrease average sale price into the spring, which will then awaken a few of the more aggressive buyers.
There were 1,217 MLS sales in February, down 34.2 per cent from February 2014, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board — the second consecutive month in which sales plunged by more than 30 per cent.
The median price was down 1.2 per cent to $420,000, while the average sale price was down 4.2 per cent to $462,295.
New listings rose by 8.8 per cent to 2,950 and active listings at the end of the month were up by 109.2 per cent to 5,524.
Fotiou said new listings were only two per cent above the five-year average and 3.6 per cent below the 10-year average.
“We continue to see a low level of sales activity in February,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB’s chief economist. “But one thing we have started to see shift is some of that level of listings growth has eased.
“If you look at last month, year-over-year growth was 37 per cent and it’s moved down closer to nine per cent. So even though we’ve seen that those inventory levels have risen to … levels we haven’t seen for some time, we still remain below the record highs that we saw in 2008.
“With that being said, because there is just generally more supply in the market that has put downward pressure on pricing.”
Lurie said there could be many reasons behind the slowdown in listings, including people waiting to see what will happen in the city’s real estate market.
Fotiou added that preliminary figures show 27 homes in Calgary sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared with 66 last February – down 59 per cent.
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
Mike Fotiou, associate broker with First Place Realty, said February MLS sales were the slowest for the month since 2009. Sales were 25 per cent off the five-year average and 33 per cent off the 10-year average.
February marked the first month since March 2011 in which average and median MLS sale prices were both down year-over-year.
Meanwhile, the inventory of homes for sale is more than double 2014’s numbers, and the highest level since 2009.
“This is playing out exactly like a textbook would describe a market in theory,” said Don Campbell, senior analyst with the Real Estate Investment Network. “The high listings, lack of buyers in January, reflecting in lower transactions and continued increase in listings in February. As oil confusion continues, so will this trend.
“Builders beginning to slow down, will decrease average sale price into the spring, which will then awaken a few of the more aggressive buyers.
There were 1,217 MLS sales in February, down 34.2 per cent from February 2014, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board — the second consecutive month in which sales plunged by more than 30 per cent.
The median price was down 1.2 per cent to $420,000, while the average sale price was down 4.2 per cent to $462,295.
New listings rose by 8.8 per cent to 2,950 and active listings at the end of the month were up by 109.2 per cent to 5,524.
Fotiou said new listings were only two per cent above the five-year average and 3.6 per cent below the 10-year average.
“We continue to see a low level of sales activity in February,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB’s chief economist. “But one thing we have started to see shift is some of that level of listings growth has eased.
“If you look at last month, year-over-year growth was 37 per cent and it’s moved down closer to nine per cent. So even though we’ve seen that those inventory levels have risen to … levels we haven’t seen for some time, we still remain below the record highs that we saw in 2008.
“With that being said, because there is just generally more supply in the market that has put downward pressure on pricing.”
Lurie said there could be many reasons behind the slowdown in listings, including people waiting to see what will happen in the city’s real estate market.
Fotiou added that preliminary figures show 27 homes in Calgary sold for $1 million or more during the month, compared with 66 last February – down 59 per cent.
mtoneguzzi@calgaryherald.com
